Comparison

Optician Magazine vs AA Grapevine

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Optician Magazine

Features
Read full description

Optician is the UK’s leading independent provider of optometry news, highly regarded CET courses and indispensable insight for eye care professionals. With over 100 years of publishing and information experience our news, business advice and courses enable practitioners to maintain essential skills and knowledge needed to practice safely and effectively and manage their businesses profitably. Optician connects and is trusted by a community of practitioners, suppliers, and recruiters to further best practice and business expertise. Our readers say “Optician provides a good overview of the optical world e.g. current affairs, product knowledge and CET” “Great magazine that enables me to get my CET points quickly and easily” Optician helps eye care professionals maintain essential skills and knowledge. Subscribers benefit from: • The profession’s leading weekly delivered direct every week • The latest optometry news and insight to stay up-to-date • In-depth clinical features to develop best practice skills • Expert business advice and benchmarking • Digital back issue archive • Your subscription may be claimed as a deductible expense During your subscription you can sync back issues to your device. These will remain in place if your subscription expires, unless your device removes them (for example when running low on disk space). Re-downloading issues requires a current subscription. • Swipe or tap the page edges to flip to next/previous page. • Use the animated thumbnail view to flick through the pages. • Pinch or double-tap pages to zoom. • Switch between single or double-page view. • Search the current issue or the archive. • Tap any page links to web sites, email addresses, phone numbers or maps. • Tap contents-page links to jump to a particular article. • Sync back issues to your device for offline reading (requires wi-fi). • Network connection required otherwise. • Bookmark favourite pages or search results to read later. • Social Media sharing feature allowing you to share pages with friends. • If your institution has a magazine subscription, you can access it directly from within your registered IP range. Subscribers will receive new issues automatically. Subscriptions are available within the app at the following prices: Monthly £19.99 Annually £249.99 In addition, please note the following standard features of auto-renewable subscriptions: • Your payment will be charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. • Subscriptions will renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. • You can manage your subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Apple Account settings after purchase. • No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. You can find our privacy policy here: https://exacteditions.com/about/privacy and our terms of service here: https://exacteditions.com/about/tos

About

AA Grapevine

Access the international journal of Alcoholics Anonymous, featuring articles, a podcast, and a daily quote. Enhance your sobriety journey with a calculator, events calendar, and exclusive spiritual maintenance tools. Share your experiences and connect with a supportive community.

Highlights
  • Monthly magazine access
  • Article archives
  • Podcast player
  • Daily quote
  • Sobriety calculator
  • AA events calendar
  • Spiritual maintenance checklist
Features
Read full description

The Grapevine app is all things Grapevine right on your smartphone. The monthly magazine, the articles archives, the podcast, the daily quote, an enhanced sobriety calculator, and the AA events calendar. App-exclusive features include a spiritual maintenance checklist and the ability to share articles, and your own experience, strength, and hope with other Grapevine app users. The app allows for more content each month too. Service-oriented members will find easy ways to be a part of the AA Grapevine Community in our Get Involved section. You’ll be able to read Grapevine anonymously wherever you go. You can also listen to each month’s articles on a playlist, and listen to the podcast playlist right on the app. Terms of Use / End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

Screenshots

Optician Magazine4 screens
AA Grapevine4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: AA Grapevine at every 4 weeks against Optician Magazine's every 10 months. AA Grapevine also leads on chart position (#58 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Optician Magazine sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $26.99 per month and AA Grapevine sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Optician Magazine ships an update every 10 months, AA Grapevine every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Optician Magazine versus AA Grapevine: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOptician MagazineAA Grapevine
PriceFreeFree
Rating—3.9 (89 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—30.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—89 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#58 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB20 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperMA Business & LeisureAA Grapevine, Inc.

Bugs and requests

Optician Magazine

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

AA Grapevine

Reported bugs

16 issues
  • Subscription verification issues
  • App is buggy
  • Restore subscription option never works
  • Cannot access current issue
  • App repeatedly states user is not subscribed
Show 11 more
  • Subscription sync issues
  • App does not unlock all features after subscription
  • Data not available message when restoring subscription
  • Cannot download full issue
  • Meeting place pictures not available
  • Article playlist does not auto-advance
  • Cannot read on e-ink devices
  • Archive search is missing terms
  • Cannot sign in with valid subscription
  • No user ID/password created during subscription
  • App does not recognize valid subscription

Requested features

7 requests
  • Native iPad version needed
  • Improve iPad usability for visually impaired
  • Fix app bugs
  • Add a way to change password
  • Improve archive search functionality
Show 2 more
  • Add ability to report app bugs
  • Allow specifying user ID/password during subscription

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Optician Magazine

Subscriptions3
  • Optician$26.991 Month
  • Optician$79.993 Months
  • Optician$249.991 Year
2 purchases

AA Grapevine

Subscriptions2
  • Grapevine Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • Grapevine Annual Subscription$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Optician Magazine free?
Optician Magazine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is AA Grapevine free?
AA Grapevine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Optician Magazine or AA Grapevine have ads?
Neither Optician Magazine nor AA Grapevine shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Optician Magazine or AA Grapevine?
Optician Magazine ships an update every 10 months, and AA Grapevine every 4 weeks. Most recently, Optician Magazine was updated on November 2, 2026 and AA Grapevine on November 7, 2026.

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